Anthropological Lessons to understand Current Times

by Dr Rohitha De Silva

Today many Sri Lankans are burdened by no more than domestic chores which in ordinary times would not have required significant attention. Obtaining a full cooking gas cylinder, filling up petrol or diesel at a fuel station, receiving 24-hour power supply are things that have been taken for granted. The procurement of staples like rice, spices and milk have not been thought of as challenging in a long time. Imported goods are now becoming a luxury, bringing nostalgic memories of Pettah’s ‘World Market’ , which once flourished under similar circumstances although the causes were somewhat different.

As I lay in bed last night, enjoying the nocturnal tunes emanating from my open and netted window, I imagined how life would have been for our first thinking ancestors. As one by one, sweat precipitated on my bare chest, I began to realise that homonin homonins would have been far too busy foraging all day to think of the arts and other aesthetics .It may be true to surmise, the arts are therefore the forte of the rich, while the poor are kept busy struggling for daily survival.

It is interesting to note that no politician has been spotted in any queue, whether in a petrol station or in any other queue. This brings me to a certain realisation that the politician has in fact kept us and continues to keep us, ‘the masses’ busy and laboured. The unsuspecting public remains in queues, risking heat stroke and even death for products that have not even been dispatched for their consumption from respective factories and stores. It was sad to see many in queues awaiting cooking gas when both Litro and Laugfs remained inoperative. The people for lack of an alternative felt coerced to remain queued, even considering the futility of their wait. Yet some are dying in theses queues. What karma! I thought to myself. To exit this world seeing as one’s last a machination of the politician, humbled humans waiting in line for essentials. And to those who for the slightest thing readily engage in fisticuffs, I say “idiot” this is precisely what the politician wants.

Mahatma Gandhi is famously known to have remarked that “… it was because the colonial masters did not drive the trains over our bodies that the Satyagrahas were successful…”. Here in Sri Lanka it is not so. It may not be so. Many examples too demonstrate that the police remains capable of inhuman acts in order to score “brownie” points with their masters.

It is time to consolidate our efforts. Candles are expensive and we must not waste anymore of our resources on futile efforts. It is time to flush the culprits out and demonstrations must take place in the right places. The President’s misadventures lead to an accelerated decline of this increasingly sad situation today. He even, going by his last address to the Nation, refutes responsibility and accountability. This is not to say that the people themselves can absolve themselves from being ‘responsible’. But it is now time to stand where he can see us. By the road is content for Sirasa at his fence is where we must say enough is enough . Converge all ye Sri Lankans, who care about our today, our tomorrow and our yesterday at the gates of the culprit/s (his henchmen) in the legislature. For as one famous yet unknown philosopher had said, “what use is a wind without a heading “.

Wake up Sri Lanka!